Netanyahu Meets Board of Peace Envoy Mladenov; Both Reaffirm Commitment to Trump's Postwar Gaza Plan

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with Board of Peace Director General Nickolay Mladenov in Jerusalem on May 13, 2026, in talks described as 'positive and substantive.' Both parties reaffirmed their commitment to Trump's 20-point postwar Gaza plan, which envisions Hamas disarmament, a transitional civilian administration under the Board of Peace, and a $17 billion reconstruction package. The meeting took place simultaneously with major IDF military operations on Day 3 of the renewed campaign, including the killing of Mohammed Sinwar and the Orange Line territorial expansion. Mladenov had delivered an end-of-week disarmament ultimatum to Hamas on May 7; Hamas formally rejected the disarmament roadmap on May 2 and had not engaged with subsequent diplomatic overtures. The 'positive and substantive' characterization of the Netanyahu-Mladenov talks was widely interpreted as an alignment between Israel and the Board of Peace on the military pressure strategy — using the renewed campaign to force Hamas into either accepting the disarmament framework or being militarily degraded to the point where it cannot resist. Hamas responded to the killings of Sinwar and the brigade commanders by vowing to 'avenge our martyrs' and declared that the resistance would continue despite leadership losses.